This invention relates to compositions containing hydrogen-containing fluorochlorohydrocarbons, selected surface-active agents, and optionally water.
Fully halogenated fluorochlorohydrocarbons are used as solvents in a number of different cleaning and drying applications, since they satisfactorily fulfill the high requirements for dissolving properties with regard to the impurities to be removed, optionally in conjunction with conventional co-solvents or other additives for cleaning and drying applications. However, the fully halogenated fluorochlorohydrocarbons are associated with the considerable disadvantage that they contribute to the dangerous decrease in the ozone content of the upper air layers of the earth's atmosphere. Because of these properties of the fully halogenated fluorochlorohydrocarbons which damage the environment, it is desirable to replace cleaning and drying compositions containing these fully halogenated fluorochlorohydrocarbons with alternative cleaning and drying compositions containing solvents which are less dubious in this respect. However, these solvents must fulfil a series of further requirements, particularly when they are to be used for cleaning or drying electronic components, printed circuits, sensitive equipment parts, precision equipment and protective circuits, such as for example fault current protected switches. The solvents thus should not damage the objects to be cleaned or to be dried, that is they should neither have a corrosive effect on metal parts nor should they attack plastic parts.
These solvents should also be capable of forming stable water-in-oil emulsions with the other constituents of cleaning compositions, for example with surface active agents and especially with water, so that the compositions containing them can be stored for long periods of time prior to use, even at temperatures well below room temperature, without any danger of deterioration in the quality of the emulsion or of the emulsion breaking (i.e. demixing with formation of separate oil and aqueous phases).